by Renee George
“Sunny is out of diapers, and she needs them for Jude. Is it okay if I take your truck?” I swallowed at the lie. “I’ll bring it back as soon as possible.”
“I’ll go with you,” he said.
“No.” I shook my head. “Jo Jo needs everyone searching for him, and you’re his best bet, Doc.” I pointed to my nose. “You’ve got the most developed sense of smell. I’d never forgive myself if we didn’t get to him in time. Please stay.”
He furrowed his brow at me, holding his stare on my face until he finally gave me a quick nod. He handed me the keys. “Hurry back.”
As a desperate act of a dying woman, I threw myself into his arms, and I kissed him with every bit of passion, anger, grief, and love I could muster. If this would be the last time I could touch him, I wanted to remember every second of how he tasted on my lips. When we stopped kissing after several long seconds, Billy Bob said, “What was that about?’
“I’m just going to miss you, is all.” I gave him a quick peck and jingled the keys. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Promise?”
“Cross my heart,” I told him.
“I love you, Chavvah.”
“I know,” I said, the emotion choking my words. I couldn’t say it back. I was betraying him by leaving and putting myself into the hands of a killer, and I hated myself for it. But this was Sunny… Eventually, I hoped, he would forgive me.
Chapter 14
All the way to Sunny’s, my mind raced with scenarios. Who was this killer? Why had he picked Sunny? She wasn’t even a therianthrope. Fuck. A tourist wouldn’t know that about her. We’d been passing her off as a shifter since the Jubilee had started. Would he be torturing her now to try and get her to shift? And what about baby Jude? Fuck. I’d been so caught up in my worry for Sunny that I’d forgotten my nephew in the process.
Her driveway was just ahead. What if I couldn’t save her on my own? What if the killers decided on a two for one special and just murdered both of us? I’d been scared when I got the text, and I’d acted rashly. I drove past her drive without stopping. I parked about half a mile up and around a sharp curve. Taking deep breaths, I prayed for some guidance.
You should tell your mate.
That’s not helpful, I told Brother Wolf. If you want to be a real help, go see if Sunny and Jude are okay.
I cannot see your friend. She is not of my blood.
Awesome. I might as well have had Casper the Ghost at my side.
You are strong, little wolf, but you are stronger with your mate.
My phone beeped with another text. This time, there was a picture attached. Sunny was tied to a chair in her kitchen, her right eye was swollen, and her lip was smeared with blood.
1 sacrifice is as good as another, the message said. U better hurry if U want to save ur friend.
I looked at Sunny’s picture again, the rage curling inside me, filling me until it spilled over my skin. There was no time to plan. Sunny and Jude needed me now. I ran through the woods, stretching my legs in long strides, amazed at my agility. I sent a silent thank you to Brother Wolf. He might not like me trying to rescue my friend alone, but he hadn’t deserted me. I’d never moved this fast in human form. It took me seconds, not minutes, to get to the backside of the cabin. I stalked quietly around the perimeter of the house, careful to keep low. In the photograph, Sunny had been tied up in the kitchen. Would she still be there? I snuck a look through the side window. Sunny’s African violets she kept on the ledge over the sink helped hide me from view. Her backside was to me, and her head slumped.
My pulse skittered. Was she dead? Her hands were tied behind her back. I saw her fingers flex. Dead people didn’t flex. Relief staggered me. A large being, reminding me so much of Brother Wolf’s shadow man form, walked into the room. I suppressed the urge to retch. He wore the skins of his previous victims, even over his face. I could imagine Sunny’s fears. It should have been me in his grasp, not her. I could survive more physical trauma than her, take more abuse. Sunny was human. Frail.
He doesn’t know that, I thought. He thinks she’s one of us.
Oh, Sunny. In our efforts to protect her, we’d turned her into a target. No, I thought. Being my best friend had made her a target. I could go around to the back door off the kitchen and burst through. The element of surprise might be all I need, I thought, trying to delude myself into action.
The fur-wearing lunatic bent over, and I watched as he retrieved something from behind him. My stomach lurched and my brain went numb at the sight in his arms. Jude. In his arms, my sweet nephew reached out for his mom.
Sunny screamed, “I’ll kill you!” as she struggled to break the bindings around her wrists.
“You have a sweet child, Mrs. Trimmel.” He stroked a finger down the side of Jude’s face. “I’d hate for anything to happen to him because your friend decides to play hero.” He turned to the window where I watched. “Are you planning on being a hero, Chavvah?”
My gut twisted. He knew I was there. This man, no, this monster had me by the short hairs. Even if Jude hadn’t been involved, I would have gladly traded myself for Sunny, but now with the baby in the mix, it was the only option.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. Not now. I pulled it out. Incoming from Billy Bob. I hit the ignore button. He called again. Damn it. I couldn’t think. I just needed a minute to think.
A message beeped on my phone: Found Jo Jo and Michele. Tied up in the woods, but safe. Where are you?
Thank God they’re safe, was my first thought. My second thought was, had their kidnapping been a distraction so the killers could grab Sunny while everyone was focused on Jo Jo? How could I have been so naïve? The bad guys had been a step ahead of me and everyone else at every turn. This mad man held my precious nephew in his arms, he’d accosted my best friend, tied her up and battered her, and I had done exactly what he wanted. I delivered myself like an early Christmas present.
Where are you? Another text from Billy Bob.
So much anger and raged welled inside me. I finally knew what it was to be loved. Would he mourn me like Brady had mourned Rose Ann? I should have told him. I should have trusted him.
“Come out, come out, Chavvah. Time is ticking,” the monster taunted.
I glanced down at my phone again, quickly I swiped in: He has Sunny and Jude. Going in. Forgive me. I love you.
I set the phone on the ground, cringing as it blew up with text after text as I walked around the side of the house. “If you want me, you can have me, but only if you let Sunny and the baby go first.” I had no real room for negotiation, but I had to try.
“I can kill her now,” the man said. “If that’s what you want.”
I gripped the door handle. “Don’t,” I said loud enough for him to hear me. “I’m coming in.”
He laughed. The cadence sounded familiar to me as if I heard that laugh before, but the mask distorted the sound.
“Oh, Chav,” Sunny said when I walked into the house.
“I’m here, hon. Just hang in there.” The left side of her face was a bright shade of candy red and blood dripped from the corner of her mouth.
I snarled and lunged forward, but the creep held up Jude between us, effectively stopping me in my tracks. This close to him, I could smell the rot of death all over him, and under that, sassafras.
“Why?” I asked. “What is with the sassafras?”
He cradled Jude back in his arms, a muffled coo as he rubbed the five-month-old’s belly. “My mother used to bath me using a mixture of lavender and sassafras oil. She believed it to be a gift from the gods. A way to create a direct conduit to the spirits. She wasn’t wrong.”
“Please put my baby down,” Sunny said. “He’s innocent.”
“Aren’t we all?” The killer looked up at me. His eyes were like black marbles in the shade of the bear mask. “I’m so close, Chavvah. You have no idea how long I’ve waited. When I saw you in that cage—”
“Wait. What? How did you
see me?” God, maybe he had been one of the guards. Impossible, I thought, but my old fears crept in.
“The same way I saw you two nights ago. You are like me. You can cross into the between. I saw you staring at yourself in that cage. The same way I saw you a year ago. It’s the reason I’m here. The reason we’re all here.” He sounded jubilant and self-assured. This maniac was drinking his own Kool-Aid. Even so, I believed him about the spirit realm.
“Are you the coyote that I saw running across the field?” I moved closer, putting myself between him and Sunny.
I couldn’t see his smile, but I could hear it in his voice. “Yes. I’m so glad you saw me. That form is magnificent. I’m only truly free when I’m there.” He leaned close, holding Jude tighter and whispered, “I want to be free here.”
“You’re nuts if you think you’re going to get away with this.”
“Don’t poke the crazy,” Sunny muttered.
He pulled handcuffs from under the furs he wore and threw them at me. I caught them. They looked like standard police issue, but what the hell did I know?
“Cuff yourself to the fridge handle.”
Reluctantly I did as he asked. The metal bit into my wrists. “Now, put Jude down.”
“I’m a man of my word, Chavvah.” He bent over and put Jude back into the baby carrier. He set Jude down by Sunny, and I could see some of the tension leave her shoulders.
“This is just between you and me. Let Sunny go.”
“I have no intention of harming your friend or her child. I only want you, Chavvah. Since the first time I saw you, I knew you would be the last. You have two animals to call. I’ve seen it. I only need one. You are more connected than anyone I’ve ever met to the spirits. Your god speaks to you, he changed you, and through your sacrifice, my god will change me. Your skin will be my transformation.”
From my vantage by the fridge, I was parallel to Sunny. When she got her wrists free, I had to fight to keep my pulse from pounding out of my chest. My brave, brave friend, who had more heart than sense at times, was a fighter, and if she could fight, so could I. But first, I had to help her get away.
I yanked at the refrigerator doors, using my body to rattle it from its place.
“What are you doing?” The man had a knife in his hand now. The curved skinning blade I’d seen in Sunny’s vision. Oh, Jesus. I prayed I’d get out of this with my skin intact.
I screamed. I howled. I wailed. I made so much noise the rafters should have been falling around my ears as I jerked on the cuffs, dragging the fridge out of its place by a few feet. My wrists were shredded where the unforgiving metal dug into them.
The man shouted, “Stop!” as he raced to me, grabbing me from behind. “You’re ruining it. You’re ruining everything!” He lifted me from the ground, and I threw my head back, slamming into his forehead. He kept one arm around me while he yanked my hair until I could feel the skin pull away from my scalp. I cried out, this time with pain.
I saw spots, which happens when you get your bell rung, but a loud, sharp thwap sounded, and the monster staggered back. Sunny was holding a cast iron skillet, the one I’d given her as a Christmas present. It was ten pounds of deadly, and she was wielding it like a Samurai.
“Run, Sunny! Take Jude and run!”
The killer was already coming to his knees, a fierce growl tearing from his lips. Was he shifting? Goddamn it! I was still tied to the large appliance, and Sunny and Jude would be helpless.
“Go!” I screamed when he shoved Sunny back before she could get in another hit. I kicked out, landing a solid blow to the side of his knee. He dropped to the ground with a howl of pain. He grabbed my foot and yanked, pulling my feet from under me, and in the process, hanging me by the hands.
Luckily, it had been enough time for Sunny to grab the baby and run out the side door. Good girl!
The man crawled over to me, his words a snarling, raspy tangle of rage. “You think you’re tough? You won’t think so for long.”
My wrists burned, and my head throbbed, but I looked him in the eye, getting my first close-up glimpse of the color. Brown. I sneered, rivulets of blood running to my eyes. “I am tough. If you think I’m going to cry or beg you for any goddamn thing, you can keep on waiting.”
He slapped me.
“Is that all you have?”
He put his knife to my cheek. “I think your smart mouth will be the first thing I slice off. Too bad, because it’s such a pretty mouth.”
I shivered and turned away from him. I prayed Billy Bob would show up. Or, if not him, at least some kind of cavalry. At least, Sunny was out. Please, Sunny, find yourself a big hole and hide. This guy’s partner was out there somewhere, and I hoped my friend wasn’t running straight into his arms.
You are strong, child. You are mine.
I don’t know why I felt relieved hearing Brother Wolf, but I did. It wasn’t like he could do anything for me, but it was nice not being alone.
I heard a truck engine. His partner? They had to kill me before the full moon. Hadn’t he said that? I curled my legs up under me to take pressure off my wrists.
Another vehicle roared to stop, then another and another. I cast a glance at my captor. “I think you’re in trouble now, bud.”
He stood up from his squat and stalked to the window. The skins covering him made a hissing-like noise when they moved, that made them seem alive. “Son of a bitch!” He turned on me, his hand shaking as he waved his blade. “I told you to come alone.”
“And I did.” Idiot.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “No. This has to happen. Has to. I can’t wait.” He was rambling now. He took a deep breath and sharpened his focus on me. “I can’t wait,” he said with an eerie calm.
He pulled a vial filled with a brown liquid from beneath his skin cloak and shook it at me. The oil substance dribbled down my face, choking me with the scent of sassafras. He began to chant as he raised his hands, curved blade up, and slowly walked toward me.
A tingle of pleasure rippled along my skin. I was turning. Oh, shit. He was calling my animal! Which meant, he planned to kill me now.
“Brother Wolf!” I cried out.
Reach for me, sister, he answered. I rose up so I could reach my pocket and yanked the eight-point star from where it rested and squeezed it tight. It pulsed with power against my skin. I stretched my mind, searching with my thoughts, until I could not only hear Brother Wolf’s howl, I could see him.
The killer caught me, yanking me to him. Suddenly, the colors of the world around me exploded as if I were in some fairy realm. It was so much like the aether where Brother Wolf existed, only I was still in Sunny’s green and chocolate brown kitchen.
Weirdly, I could smell the pungent earthiness of the nearby woods. The rising moon called to me, and it felt incredible. I could not only smell everything, but I could also detect and sort each scent. I imagined what was happening to me was like a software upgrade, only without all the glitches. The cuffs holding me burst apart. I looked down at my paws. They were huge and…black, the color of pitch.
Brother Wolf? What’s happening?
You are becoming.
Great. Becoming what?
It didn’t matter now. Saving myself before this bastard could turn me into sushi was the most important task. Which, it turned out, was less a problem than I imagined. I must have looked pretty effing scary, because, by the time I’d completed the shift, he’d ran out the back door.
About that same time, Billy Bob burst through the front. He took one look at me, his eyes wide and his mouth grim. Unfettered fury vibrated along his skin. He had a gun in his hand, and I watched as he raised it in my direction. I turned my head to see if the killer had come back.
Nope.
Billy Bob was pointing the gun at me! Holy crap.
“Don’t shoot!” I said. Then snapped my muzzle shut. What should have come out of my mouth was a series of whines and barks, but instead, I was speaking like a human. “Doc,” I s
aid. “It’s me, Chavvah. Put the gun down.”
Why wasn’t I turning back? Brother Wolf?
He didn’t answer. Great time to check out! Ugh.
Behind Billy Bob, Babe came running in, along with Sheriff Taylor, Farraday, Thompson, and Connelly, Dominic Tartan, Chance Lowry, Willy Boden, and Hans Fisk.
“Whoa!” Willy threw up her hands. “What in the hell is that thing?”
“Oh, Jesus,” I muttered.
“It talks!” Connelly said.
“Score one for the squirrel,” I said.
He frowned. “How do you know what I am?”
“I can smell your nuts.”
He sniffed.
“I’m kidding, Michael.” I took a step closer to the group. They all took a wary step back, except Billy Bob. That’s my man! “Is Sunny okay?”
“Yes,” Billy Bob said. “We found her up on the road with Jude. Ruth and Ed took her into town. She’s going to stay at their place tonight.”
“Oh, thank heavens.” It would be dark soon, and all the little creatures and some really large ones would be scurrying about. I watched Hans Fisk fidget under my sweeping gaze of the room. In this group was a killer, and now I knew whom. “Sheriff, arrest Chance Lowry.”
“What?” The accused scoffed at me. “I know you’ve had a hard night, but that doesn’t give you the right to make false accusations.” He took a step back toward the door. Farraday and Thompson blocked his way.
“I can’t arrest the man on the say-so of a ginormous black wolf,” the sheriff said.
Dominic Tartan moved with quick efficiency, pulling handcuffs from god-knows-where and slapped them on Lowry’s wrists before he could protest. “I don’t have the same constraints,” he said.
When the sheriff and the deputies moved around him, he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and flashed a badge.
“I’m FBI. I’ve been tracking the killings for almost a decade now. I’ve been close. I knew the killers were based out of Kansas, and that they spree killed during the Tri-Council Jubilee each year, but they’ve never been this public. I gave the information to Willy to pass along to you.”